Saturday, April 29, 2017

President Donald Trump ditched the White House Correspondents' Dinner and, instead, attended a rally in Pennsylvania to lay into the media. The rally marked 100 days in the Oval Office. At the rally, Trump told supporters in Pennsylvania that he was keeping "one promise after another", dismissing criticism as "fake news" by "out of touch" journalists. At one point, Trump also said to throw out an angry protester.

Trump's skipping of the White House Correspondents' Dinner is the first by a president since Ronald Reagan in 1981. At the rally in Harrisburg, Pa., Trump said that the media should be given "a big, fat, failing grade" over their coverage of his achievements during his first 100 days and told the cheering crowd he was "thrilled to be more than 100 miles from Washington." The president said the previous administration of Barack Obama "gave us a mess", stressing that he was ready for "great battles to come and we will win in every case."

"A large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in our nation's capitol right now," he said. "They are gathered together for a White House Correspondents' Dinner without the president." Trump has attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner before and was famously roasted by President Barack Obama at the 2011 event.

Here are some reactions to Trump's rally on social media.

Does Trump realize he is the President of the United States & not just the President of the ones that cheer him at his "rallies"?#TrumpRally

Trump has recently attacked federal judges, threatened to pull out of NAFTA, demanded payment from South Korea for a U.S. missile shield and considered the chances of a "major conflict" with North Korea. However, Trump lacks a major legislative achievement, has the lowest approval ratings of any new commander in chief since World War II, has seen several key immigration goals held up by the courts and is yet to show his deal making skills can transform Washington like he said they would.

What did you think about Trump skipping out of the White House Correspondents' Dinner? Were you looking forward to seeing him be ridicule? Let us know in the comments section.